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REV. JOHN BARNARD, 

OF MAR13LEHEAD. 



At a meeting- of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, held in Boston, on Thursday, June 11, 
1896, Dr. Samuel A. Green made the following 
remarks : — 

There is in the Historical Library a uote-book, kept by the 
Reverend John Barnard, of Marblehead, which contains a 
memorandum of all the sermons preached by him through 
a long life, giving the texts of his various discourses and the 
places and dates of their delivery, as well as the honorarium 
received for the same. The book begins with August 10, 1701, 
and ends with January 21, 1770, though the latest entries are 
read with some difficulty, as they are written in a feeble hand, 
after he had become almost blind from the infirmities of age. 
In early life his handwriting very closely resembled that of 
Thomas Prince, the annalist. 

Mr. Barnard was a son of John and Esther Barnard, and was 
born in Boston, on November 6, 1681. He received his pre- 
paratory education at the Boston Latin School, and graduated 
at Harvard College in the Class of 1700. An autobiographical 
sketch of him is printed in the Society's Collections (third 



series, V. 177-243), from which some of the following f^cts are 
taken. Soon after his graduation he joined the North Church, 
then under the pastoral care of the two Mathers, father and 
son, and began to study for the gospel ministry. He preached 
his first sermon on August 10, 1701, at Mr. [Wilham] Robie's 
house, before a society of young men that used to meet on 
Sunday evenings for religious worship. 

According to the note-book, Mr. Barnard during his life 
delivered more than six thousand sermons, of which he gives 
the various texts by a reference to the chapter and verse ; and 
throughout this long period he received for his services more 
than ten thousand pounds. In one instance during his early 
life he was given a Bible for such service, and in several other 
instances some theological work. At divers times he supplied 
the pulpit of many congregations in various parts of the 
Province, and for some years was a chaplain both in the pro- 
vincial army and navy. On July 18, 1716, he was settled 
over the Church of Christ at Marblehead, where he remained 
until his death, on Januar}^ 24, 1770, in the eighty-ninth year 
of his age. By his will he gave to Harvard College the sum 
of two hundred pounds in token of his thankfulness for the 
education he there received. When President Wads worth 
died in the spring of 1717, Mr. Barnard was talked of as his 
successor to the presidency of that institution. 

The Reverend Charles Chauncy, D.D., of Boston, in a letter 
to Dr. Ezra Stiles, then of Newport, Rhode Island, dated 
May 6, 1768, says : — 

Mr. John Barnard, of Marblehead, has been a long and near friend 
and acquaintance of mine. He is now in his 85th [87th] year, and I 
hear is seized this winter with blindness. I esteem him to have been 
one of our greatest men. Had he turned his studies that way, he would 
perhaps have been as great a mathematician as any in this country, I 
had almost said in England itself. He is equalled by few in regard 



^ either of iuvention, liveliness of iinagination, or strength unci clearness 
^y in reasoning. (Collections, X. 157, 158.) 



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Mr. Butler, in his History of Groton, while treating of 
the ecclesiastical affairs of the town immediately following the 
pastorate of the Reverend Dudley Bradstreet, who was dis- 
missed in the summer of 1712, says : — 

Before settling another minister, after the dismission of Mr. Brad- 
street, three persons at least were hired as candidates for settlement ; 
two of whom, Mr. [John] Tufts and Mr. [John] Cotton, received in- 
vitations to settle. A Mr. Barnard preached for some time, and he and 
Mr. Tufts were rival candidates before the town, and Mr, Tufts had the 
major vote (pages 170. 171). 

Mr. Tufts did not accept the invitation, but soon afterward 
was settled over the church at Newbury. According to entries 
in the note-book, it was Mr. John Barnard who was ]3reaching 
as the other candidate at Groton, where he supplied the pulpit 
for many Sundays during this period. Usually for his services 
in that town he received a pound for each day's preaching, 
though sometimes the sum was a little less, and once he had a 
guinea. 

From time to time Mr. Barnard notes the fact in the volume 
that a sermon was printed, and also the occasion of its deliv- 
ery. Many times during his early life he held Sunday even- 
ing services at his father's house in Boston, all which are 
mentioned in the list. 

The note-book, containing 133 pages, was given to the 
Historical Library, on February 4, 1814, by the Reverend 
Samuel Dana, a successor of Mr. Barnard in the ministry at 
Marblehead. At the same time there was given by Mr. Dana 
another manuscript volume (pp. 277) entitled '• A new Version 
of the Psalms of David ; with Hymns out of the Old, and New, 
Testament ; fitted to the Tunes used in the Churches. By 



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4 014 079 544 6 

John Barnard. A.M. Pastor of a Church in Marblehead." It is 
substantially identical with the printed edition that appeared 
in the year 1752 under Mr. Barnard's supervision, and is written 
in a very clear and clean hand, almost page for page and line 
for line with the published copy. At the beginning, pasted in 
front of the fly-leaf, are three notes commendatory of the work, 
which were written by Samuel Mather, Mather Byles, and 
Samuel Cooper, respectively, and all dated November 20, 1751. 
Presumably this was the copy sent to them, in advance of 
its publication, for their critical notice, and in the Preface 
to the printed volume the services of the two former ministers 
are acknowledged. 

In connection with this subject, I may as well call attention 
to another manuscript volume, containing 184 pages, by Mr, 
Barnard, which was given to the Library by Colonel Samuel 
Swett. on July 28, 1836. It consists mainly of private medi- 
tations and self-examinations, written down by the pious 
author, which have no historical interest at the present time. 
The book begins with entries on January 28, 1715-16, and 
ends with those on October 31, 1719. It is marked on the 
inside of the front cover, " Lib — 9 : " as if there were other 
volumes belonging to the series. 




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